ANBU: My Mask
by XxXxFading DreamxXxX
Summary: What mask would you choose? One-shot. Pretty much drabble... Enjoy


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

A/N: Enjoy! Please review! This is partly a real story/legend that I read a while back, and I can't remember where it's from…

There are many stories about the fox, the kitsune. Each one tells a tale of trickery. There are stories of how the fox will take a humans skin. There are stories of how the fox tricked the bear. There are countless tales of how the fox hidden as a beautiful virgin will beguile a man and lead him to his death in the forest. The fox is a trickster, the fox is a thief, and the fox is a liar. However there is one tale that tells of how the kitsune itself was tricked...

Once upon a time a Kitsune living in Konoha forest lifted his head from the undergrowth where he had been hiding, and saw an Eagle.

"Ohayo!" cried the Eagle as it swooped down close to the Kitsune. "How you can bear to live all your life down there on the ground, I do not know. You really are a most un-enterprising creature."

Then the Eagle soared up into the blue sky again, and the Kitsune watched it. The Kitsune half wished that he could fly too.

A few moments later the Eagle swooped down again, saying, "Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes I did," called the Kitsune. "What does the world look like from up so high?"

The Eagle landed on a tree branch and replied, "Sometimes it is so far away that it is almost invisible."

The Kitsune laughed scornfully. "I don't believe you," he said, with a smirk.

This annoyed the Eagle who had always hated the Kitsune for his cunning underhanded ways, and now he suddenly thought of a plan to get rid of him.

"Jump on my back and I'll take you up to see for yourself," he said, his voice light, all hatred hidden. However if the Kitsune had looked closely he would have seen that there was a dark gleam in the Eagles eyes. Unfortunately for the Kitsune he did not look closely, instead he was glad that his own ploy to make the Eagle let him fly had worked.

The Kitsune hesitated for a moment and then he climbed onto the strong back of the Eagle; he settled himself among the feathers and cried: "I'm ready! Up you go!"

The Eagle soared upwards and the Kitsune closed his eyes in alarm, for he had never traveled as fast as this on the ground, let alone in the air.

"How big does the earth look?" asked the Eagle.

The Kitsune opened his eyes and gasped as he peered downwards. "It looks about as big as one of those baskets made in Suna," he said.

"Aha!" said the Eagle. "But it won't look as big as that in a minute." Up and up they went, and then the Eagle asked again, "How big does the earth look now?"

"It looks about as big as an onigiri," replied the Kitsune, hoping that the Eagle would soon begin flying down again.

But the Eagle continued to soar upwards, while the Kitsune clung to its feathers, feeling very alarmed and still scarcely daring to open his eyes.

"How big does it look now?" asked the Eagle at last.

Peering down through half-closed eyes, the Kitsune could see nothing at all. Even when he opened his eyes wide in surprise, he could still not see the earth, as it was so far away below them.

"I can't see anything at all!" he said. "How far away do you think the earth is now?"

"That I can't tell," replied the Eagle. "But I will leave it to you to find out." So saying the Eagle turned right over onto his back so that the Kitsune was shaken off.

With a scream the Kitsune began to fall down. Through the air he rushed, sometimes the right way up, sometimes the wrong, spiraling and spinning. All the time wondering what would happen to him when he hit the earth…

Ever since that traitor who dared call himself a sensei told me my secret I have been fascinated by the stories told about the kitsune. My experiences with the Fox have warned me that kitsune are indeed like all the old legends warn.

I do not blame the villagers for their hatred of me; I truly was a kitsune in disguise.

My pranks while at the time were mainly a cry for attention held true to the villagers' perception of kitsune's. I embodied all that they feared about kitsune's who were tricksters, pranksters, monsters hidden in the skin of man. I could never hate the villagers for fearing me; I had unconsciously personified everything they feared about kitsune's. I am unable to blame them for the pain that they caused me.

Of all the tales that I have heard of about the kitsune my favorite is the one Jiji told me when I was young. The one where the Kitsune was tricked; and the Eagle was able to rid the world of the annoying trickster.

Since I have known of the Fox, since that fateful night I made Gennin, I have thought again and again about my role. Who am I? Am I a kitsune in disguise (as so many of the villagers have accused me of being)? Am I merely the container of the demon Fox? Or am I something more? Could I ever hope to be the end of the Kyuubi? Could I fly so high that the demon looks down in fear, terrified as I turn over and allow it to fall to its doom?

Such dreams have plagued me for years. These thoughts, these questions, have tormented my already tired mind for so long.

While I was on team 7 I was once told that my team-mate resembled a raven. My other team-mate was always compared to a tiger later in life, after her apprenticeship, quiet, watchful, but strong enough to take down its prey.

Me? I have always been a kitsune. The three marks on my cheeks, the grin that often covered my face in youth and has followed me into adulthood, my fast thinking on the battlefield and my skill in trap making. Each quality has proven to people that I am nothing more than the shell that holds the Demon, a powerful shell, but a shell all the same.

This is why, when I was given the choice I chose what I want to be, rather than what they see as me.

I do not see the marks upon my cheeks when I gaze in the mirror. I do not acknowledge the grin that takes over my features; I do not notice the kitsune like quality in my fighting style. I refuse to acknowledge how perfect I am as a kitsune.

In my desperation to separate myself from the Kyuubi, from the 'gift' that was given to me the day of my birth, I have struggled to create a new visage for myself. I have continued to try and grow away from the behavior of my younger self; I have tried to destroy the fox-like qualities that I portray each day. I grew quiet as I gained knowledge, this however only heightened the fear that I was the fox; they felt that I was planning and plotting. I became stronger following my dream to be Hokage; they believed that the Fox was taking over, regaining its strength.

The day that I was accepted into ANBU I was left in a room filled with masks. I was told to 'find the one'. They left me there for two hours. For two hours I walked around the dark room, shadows following my every movement.

I walked from mask to mask. Each one held a personality, a shield.

Within an hour I had found the mask that _they_ had chosen for me. It grinned back at me, three marks upon each cheek and a toothy grin upon its features. I knew that they had placed it there on purpose.

I did not walk towards it.

I refused to go near the grinning mask that reflected my face. However neither could I look away; I was captivated by the mask that by every right I should have worn. Each line had been strategically placed; it was a true work of art.

_I could not bear to wear it._ I would not show that side of myself to the world. It was enough that I used a style of fighting reminiscent of the Fox I would not also wear its face while fighting for my village. I was not what the council wanted. I was not the tool that they had anticipated. And I would not so readily choose that role.

I walked past the mask, my own grin growing upon my face, if they believed I was a kitsune on the inside then I would show them another side of me.

I continued walking around the room. Searching. I knew that it was here. Nobody else bore this mask. _It had to be here._

I found it. It lay inconspicuously, hidden between the masks of a lion and that of an owl. Instantly I reached for it. Drawn to it. This was who I wanted to be. This is what my enemy's would face in their final moments. This would be the face that haunted my enemies.

The mask fit perfectly, as if it had been made for me; perhaps it had been, perhaps somebody saw in me a chance to get rid of the Fox. I walked back to the other mask. The one that projected my own face and that of the demon within me. I stood facing it, waiting.

I stood there for half an hour, _my_ mask upon my face and stared into the blank eyes of the mask that I refused to wear.

I heard the door open behind me and turned, hearing nothing but a murmur from the masked ninja behind the door as they saw what I had chosen.

I walked amongst them, between them, as a part of them. Each mask reflecting something different. Each individual mask holding a part of the soul of the wearer, their emotions held tightly locked behind porcelain and ink.

I glimpsed the mask of a rabbit hidden amongst the larger bodies in the room. The mask showed the timid nature of the wearer, the small body, the prey like qualities; it allowed for their enemy to become overconfident, and it allowed the wearer to hide behind a falsity. It showed the physical attributes of the wearer, and it hid the true abilities of the ninja behind it

Another wore the mask of a horse, fast and strong, able to carry the weight of a mission and to run like the wind; smart but willing to work for others, to carry their weight when they were unable to continue. It reflected the personality of the wearer.

There were more, a panda; strong and slow, but fierce when the need arose. A swan; graceful and smooth. A tiger; fierce and patient.

My mask was different. My mask was unique. This mask, _my_ mask could defeat my demons. My mask was strong, quick witted, and fast, it was agile and intelligent. My mask was what I wanted to be. My mask could outwit my demons. My mask could defeat the only thing that terrified me.

For years I had lived in fear of the Fox. For years I had to deal with the fact that it was killing me slowly. For years I had to deal with all the threats, the loneliness, the panic and the despair that came with having a demon sealed inside of you.

I have wished for so long that I was not the Kitsune. That I was not the animal that continuously haunted my dreams and filled my nightmares and ruled my waking moments.

It has been a long time since I heard the tale; the story that a loving, trusting, foolish old man once told a lonely, scared, cold young boy. It took me a long time to remember it. I had been young when I heard it and had not thought much of it except that I was warm and that the old man whose lap I was seated upon was talking to me with a caring smile upon his face.

It had not mattered to that little boy that the Fox had died; it was the excitement in realizing that the Eagle was brave enough, strong enough, smart enough, to pull off such a feat.

It had not occurred to the little boy that in years to come he would think back on that story and wonder at what the old man, the kind, loving, caring, foolish, confusing old man, had been telling him.

Had the old man thought he was the Kitsune? Or was he the Eagle? Had the old man known, even then that this story would save him? Or had he just been an old man who had wanted to show a little boy what it was to feel wanted?

The old man was a fool, he was too kind, too loving, too caring… he was also the one thing that had stopped him from falling into despair, from falling as the Kitsune in the story had fallen, down towards the earth spiraling and spinning and not knowing when the end would come, when he would finally hit the ground.

Leaving the room filled with masks the young man smiled once more, a hint of mischief upon his features, hidden behind the cool and serious demeanor of his mask. He would not be remembered as the Fox. Instead he would be seen as the one thing that had been smart enough, cunning enough, fast enough and strong enough to out wit a Fox.

Spreading his wings he would fly up the fox holding onto his back flying higher and higher his plan working perfectly, only when it was too late would the Fox realize. It would be then that the Eagle would spin, watching as the being that it hated and despised for most of his life fell, spiraling and spinning, falling towards the ground so far below.

The young man ran towards his apartment, leaping from roof to roof, the air around him, the thrill of the flight, the adrenaline rushing through his veins. He stopped abruptly when he reached his home. He slipped into the building. Quietly his hand reaching towards the mask still hiding his features; he pulled it off in one swift motion.

Placing the mask upon his bedside table he stood for a moment looking at the object he had spent the last few hours trying to find.

He could see the deadly beauty within the ceramics and the fine print of the brush as it had been swept across the blank mask. It was truly beautiful.

After changing he laid on his bed, his gaze once more turned to the mask. He would live life as his mask; it would shield him from the Fox, protecting him. In return he would continue to fly high, waiting for the Fox to say that it could no longer see the world beneath it.

He would embody the Eagle and he gleefully awaited the day that the Fox truly felt fear. Waiting for the moment where he could watch as the Fox, his tormentor, would fall spiraling and spinning to the world far, far below…

END~

Thanks for reading!

Please review~

[Revised 21/6/2010: I saw there were some mistakes so I fixed them~ ^-^]

Word count: 2578

Pages: 6


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